THE MALLING OF MAIN STREET

Published: April 19, 1987

(Page 2 of 2)

''I don't think we'd go into an area and be the only national specialty store chain,'' Mr. Genser said. Simlarly, Mr. Cohen of Benneton says he chooses new suburban locations by ''a gut feeling.'' What is that gut feeling based on? ''You look for complementary existing merchants, you look into upscale shopping areas that have a pretty high traffic count,'' he said. ''If a place has no national tenants, you try to sniff out the best local merchants and go where they are.''

ALTHOUGH regional malls still draw larger crowds than even the fanciest community shopping district, lower overhead in the suburbs makes it possible for the chains to turn a nice profit with lower sales per square foot. According to Thomas J. Tashjian, a senior retail trade analyst with Seilder Amdec Securities in Los Angeles, rents at regional malls can be as high as $65 a square foot. And mall stores also pay a percentage of sales for common area maintenance and for promotion.

On Greenwich Avenue, in contrast, rents are unlikely to exceed $40 a square foot. And while that may be outrageously high for a local shoemaker, it is comparatively cheap for a chain. Moreover, the first national chain to show up in a town sometimes is offered a sweetheart lease - a very low rent for the first few years - by landlords eager for a prestigious new store.

And even the smaller number of passersby has compensations, retailing experts say. Malls are used for socializing; suburban downtowns attract no-nonsense shoppers.

''You really can't quantify the difference in traffic,'' Mr. Tashjian said. ''But what you end up with in the suburban areas is often a more destination-oriented consumer. They're not out there just for the general sake of walking around. They come with the intention of buying merchandise.''

That is little comfort to many local merchants and residents. Indeed, the same complaints now being heard in the suburbs were voiced by long-time residents and shop owners on such urban thoroughfares as Manhattan's Columbus Avenue and Upper Broadway, where influxes of high-priced stores and restaurants substantially changed the area's complexion. In all of these cases, while some residents view the opening of a Ralph Lauren or Laura Ashley as a status symbol, the resulting rent increases can sweep away marginal local merchants that make shopping near home so convenient.

In Huntington, L.I., the Benneton shop replaced a bird store. In other communities, antique shops, small diners, bookstores, bakeries, electric supply stores and barbershops have closed. The local merchants, used to years of comfortable rent increases, are overwhelmed by new leases that sometimes double their rent.

To be sure, even without the national chains, rents in suburban commercial space have been climbing steadily. So have residential values -which makes developers less sympathetic to local residents' complaints.

''Some people prefer to have the old store where they can go in and buy a box of nails for 37 cents,'' said Stanley Kleckner, a Greenwich businessman. Mr. Kleckner is a partner in a firm that rehabilitated two old buildings on Greenwich Avenue, displacing the Greenwich Hardware store, which had been in business for most of the century, with a Laura Ashley and a Banana Republic. ''They want to have their homes keep skyrocketing but have retail space stay just where it is,'' he said.

Other pro-chain businessmen insist that convenience stores are not disappearing from downtown at all, but are just being being scaled back in size or relocated. Indeed, there already is a small hardware store in a basement not far from where Greenwich Hardware had operated. ''There might be some relocation, some change of habitat, but over all, a balance between traditional stores and national chains will be maintained,'' said R. Michael Dunne, a local furrier and the director of the local Chamber of Commerce in Greenwich.

That statement is echoed in other suburbs, too. Summit, N.J., for example, is poised for an influx of chain stores. Benneton, often the suburban pioneer for the chains, is there already. La Sweaterie is opening in June, and other chains have Springfield Avenue, the city's main shopping street, on their lists whenever space becomes available.

Rents are starting to go up, and local merchants are nervous. But town officials say it is much ado about nothing. ''It's been no problem, absolutely not,'' said Robert Hartlaub, Summit's Mayor. Rents go up anyway ''about every five years,'' as leases expire and are renewed, said Joseph A. Steiner, the executive vice president of the Summit Chamber of Commerce. ''We've not found it to be a major problem,'' he said. ''The real service-type industry - the shoe maker, the tailor, fish store or grocer - still has a place here.'

He points to one of Summit's new gourmet shops as proof that the stores serving everyday needs can co-exist with the pricey shops. A year ago, downtown Summit's frumpy Grand Union supermarket became Kaufelt's Fancy Groceries, itself a prototype for a new chain of upscale food centers. The new owner - Robert I. Kaufelt, the former president of Mayfair-Foodtown Supermarkets -had the storefront redone, installed oak shelves and a U-shaped deli case imported from Germany and now stocks exotic grocery items like Japanese pears, arrugula and 14 types of wild mushroom.

But, Mr. Steiner insists, the high-fashion image is not interfering with old-fashioned service. ''You can still call,'' he said, ''and have your order delivered to your door.''

That may be so, but residents still say that nothing will make up for having to drive miles to get basic services, or having to deal with merchants they do not know. As Mr. Margenot put it, the influx of chains ''takes away the small town flavor we've been trying to maintain.''